From DICTIONARY
OF NORTH CAROLINA BIOGRAPHY,
volume 3 edited by William S. Powell. Copyright 1988 by the University
of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher.

Kitchin, Thurman Delna(17 Oct. 1885-28 Aug. 1955), physician and educator, was born at
Scotland Neck, the son of William Hodge and Maria Arrington Kitchin, as
one of a family of eleven children. After attending the Vine Hill Male
Academy at Scotland Neck, he entered Wake Forest College, from which he
received the A.B. degree in 1905. Medical studies during his senior year
and a year at The University of North Carolina in 1905-6 prepared him
for the last two years in medicine at the Jefferson Medical College in
Philadelphia, where he was awarded the M.D. degree in 1908.

In
the same year Kitchin began a medical practice in Lumberton, where he
remained until 1910; he then moved to Scotland Neck to practice. In 1917
he accepted an appointment as professor of physiology in the two-year
Medical School at Wake Forest College, and in 1919 he became its dean.
He was appointed president of Wake Forest in the summer of 1930 succeeding
Francis Pendleton Gaines. Although not having reached a compulsory retirement
age, Kitchin decided in 1950 to relinquish his position.

During
his tenure as dean of the Medical School and also later as president of
the college, Kitchin faced certain dissensions and disturbances. Despite
these difficulties and the stringencies of the Great Depression followed
by World War II, Wake Forest achieved substantial growth under his administrative
direction. As dean he was obliged in 1926 to deal with a schism in the
medical faculty, which culminated in the resignation of two of its members.
It was partially because of this that some who later opposed his candidacy
for president of the college called him "devisive" however unjust
and unfounded his supporters considered the charge.

The
circumstances surrounding his appointment as president of Wake Forest
were particularly unfortunate and apparently not of his own making. In
the spring of 1930, a group of faculty members circulated a petition among
faculty and students calling for Kitchin as president. This immediately
divided the faculty, even before the special committee of trustees had
a sufficient opportunity to survey the field for possible candidates.
The debate soon spread to alumni and members of the Baptist church. Opposition
to Kitchin centered mainly on two points: that he was not a humanistic
and that he had not distinguished himself as a Baptist leader. Kitchin
knew that he was neither. Believing, however, that he possessed equivalent
talents, which experience proved to be the case, he accepted the appointment.
Many of his opponents, recognizing the need to preserve unity at the college,
agreed to work with him peaceably, so the controversy gradually subsided.
To allay further doubt about his religious beliefs, he published statements
in the summer of 1930 that seemed to satisfy North Carolina Baptists,
at least for the time.

Apart
from his medical ability, another quality helped Kitchin in the discharge
of his presidential duties -- his political talent and acumen. With a
father who had been elected to Congress from the Second North Carolina
District, a brother, William Walton, who had been governor, and another
brother, Claude, who had been Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives
it was natural that Thurman Kitchin should possess like capacities which
he chose to apply to a private institution rather than in public office.
He thus belonged among those college presidents who are skilled administrators
rather than scholars, each perhaps, according to given situations, being
equally effective. His political inclinations helped him to maintain good
relations with alumni, to withstand Baptist attacks, and to promote the
interests of the college.

Many
beneficial changes were made at Wake Forest during the Kitchin administration.
The need for funds prompted a vigorous campaign for new students; as a
result, undergraduate enrollment increased from 617 in 1929-30 to 1,107
in 1940-41. In 1935, to meet the admission standards of the American Association
of Law Schools, the Law School was reorganized, a new dean appointed,
and the curriculum broadened. During World War II, when there were few
male students, women were first admitted as undergraduates in 1942. The
Medical School was defended against the attacks of the American Medical
Association on two-year institutions until it was possible to expand to
a four-year program in Winston-Salem in 1941. That year a chapter of Phi
Beta Kappa was also established.

Under
President Kitchin, the college's physical plant was refurbished and expanded.
Two campus buildings that had been destroyed by an incendiary in 1933
and 1934 were replaced, funds were donated for a new building for the
Medical School, a new dormitory and a new gymnasium were erected, and
the North Carolina State Convention provided a new and much larger chapel.
Although Kitchin did not take a very active part in these proceedings,
it was late in his administration, during spring 1946, that the Z. Smith
Reynolds Foundation made the offer that led to the college's relocation
in Winston-Salem in 1956.

Especially
while he was dean of the Medical School, Kitchin served on various state
committees and boards dealing with medical and medico-social affairs,
such as the problems of the feebleminded, the direction of the North Carolina
Sanitarium, unemployment compensation, and the concerns of the Employment
Security Commission. He was president of the Southern Medical Association
in 1928-29 and enjoyed the distinction of election as a Fellow of the
American College of Physicians. Kitchen was awarded honorary degrees by
Duke University (1931), The University of North Carolina (1933), and Davidson
College (1947). He was the author of Lectures on Pharmacology (1929)
, The Doctor and Citizenship (1934), and Doctors in Other Fields
(1938).

On
3 Nov. 1908 he married Reba Calvert Clark of Scotland Neck. They were
the parents of Thurman Delna, Jr., Irwin Clark, and William Walton. Kitchin
died at Wake Forest after suffering for some time from a heart ailment
common in his family; he was buried at Scotland Neck the following day,
survived by his widow and three sons.